I said YES!!!

Friday, June 24^th started out as any ordinary summer day. I woke up early, went to work, and was anticipating 5:00 and the weekend! Ethan and I were planning on going to Kansas City to spend time with friends and attend a Royal’s game! Once we were both off of work and had our car loaded, we were ready to hit the road! We made sandwiches to eat on the way there and I had told Ethan that I was going to be the “best navigator he had ever driven with!” I was all set with my directions, and as we turned onto the highway we quickly started in on conversation and I forgot all about my directions. As we drove on, I began to wonder if we missed our exit. Ethan informed me that we passed it a VERY long time ago, but he just decided to go a different way. I followed along and apologized for failing at being the best navigator ever. As we were approaching Exit 303 (the Manhattan exit) Ethan turned on his blinker, and I began to question why. He replied that he thought we could get gas here and head over to the K-State Gardens for a little detour. At this point I started to question what he was up to, but kept these thoughts to myself.

The K-State Gardens is a garden area with a beautiful water fountain and many flowers to walk around and look at. We have gone here on a few different occasions during the school year when he came to visit me. We have many good memories here of conversations about our relationship and the future.

We walked around for awhile and then decided to sit down and talk for a bit.

The whole time we were there I was wondering if he was just being romantic and stopping by for a good time, or if he was being romantic and going to ask me a very important question about our future!!! After people cleared out we then walked over to a secluded area that we often sit at when we are there. Again, we sat there and talked some more.…as the sun was setting he said “well, we should probably get back on the road to make it to KC in good time.” I think my heart hit the floor. At this point I was expecting this to be the day, and the moment. I realized I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. But as we stood up he grabbed both of my hands, looked into my eyes and told me how much he loved me, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! I had tears running down my face as I nodded and said, “YES!” 

After spending time talking to each other about all the details and planning that he had been doing for about a month we headed onto Kansas City! We were staying at our friend Brittany’s house, who knew the exciting news and had helped with the planning of the proposal! When we arrived at the house Ethan had flowers for me and Brittany and Cameron (her boyfriend) greeted us with hugs, cupcakes they had made, and books and magazines about weddings!!!

He did such an amazing job!!!

After staying up late and talking we all went to bed so we would be ready for the next day!!

Brittany and I realized that with all of the excitement the night before we had forgotten to take pictures…which was a must!!! 

We spent the day doing a little shopping, eating lunch, and meeting up with Allison and her brother Will for the Royal’s game! We had a blast, and the Royals even won!!!

That evening we had more friends over to share the big news and spend time playing games with them!!!

Sunday morning Ethan and I were excited to get up and head home to tell our families about our engagement!! They still did not know because we wanted to tell them all in person!!! We first went to McPherson to tell his mom, grandparents, and rest of his family over lunch! His mom said that she “just knew it was going to happen this weekend!!” She even watched the baseball game we were at to see if he would ask me then!! We then stopped by his house to tell his Dad and Kris!! They were very excited about the news as well!! We then headed to my house to tell my parents and my sister! My mom also said that she “had a feeling about this weekend!” After telling everyone the story we quickly started talking about planning a wedding!!!!

I am so excited to be Ethan’s fiancé, and future wife!!! I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, and I couldn’t be happier!!! We are both incredibly excited about what the future has in store for us!! We have started the process of planning and have already set a date! We will be getting married on June 9^th, 2012!!! Hard to believe that after four and a half years of dating we will finally be tying the knot and saying “I DO!!!” 

xoxo,

Shelbi